Unanswered Prayers
by KVicious
Summary: Hotohori runs into an old crush at a hometown football game...+songfic+


Well, here you have it...another of my attempts to write a Fushigi Yuugi songfic. I hope you enjoy! Remember, feedback is music to a writer's ears. Please tell me what you think of this fic when you finish reading it. Thanks and enjoy ^^.  
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Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers  
Remember when you're talking to the man upstairs  
And just because he doesn't answer doesn't mean he don't care  
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers  
  
Hotohori smiled at his wife as they walked hand in hand into the football stadium having just purchased tickets to watch their son Max, the star quarterback for his high school football team, play tonight. The place was packed tight with high school students and their families. The huge crowd was to be expected, this was the Homecoming game after all. As him and his wife, Houki, weaved their way through the mass of people, Hotohori reflected on his time as a high school student at this very same school that his son now attended and would be graduating from in just a few months.   
  
He could remember when this stadium was first constructed. Him and the rest of the student body had held so many different types of fundraisers just so the school would be able to afford building supplies. When it was finished and everyone got to explore it for the very first time, the paint was so fresh that you could smell the fumes emanating from the walls. It smelled awful but it was a sign that their hard work and dedication had finally paid off. Hotohori had never worked so hard for anything in his life and he was proud of it.   
  
He remembered sitting on the concrete bleachers for the very first time during a pep rally and how hot they were to his behind because of the mid-day sun beating relentlessly down on them. He didn't mind that either because his mind was only registering the cheerleaders prancing around in their short skirts down on the field. It was so new back then. But now...Hotohori suppressed a chuckle, now it was broken in a wee-bit too much.  
  
The once proud red and white walls had changed slightly appearance-wise. Pride was still evident in the school's students. This was proved by all the graffiti that decorated the walls with school slogans, athletic students signatures with their jersey number proudly scribbled underneath their names, and doodles of the schools mascot - a tiger. He smiled when he saw his son Max's signature amidst the others. The graffiti didn't look like something not planned; everything was nice and neatly written. No messages overlapped another. Hotohori supposed the principal had allowed all the school-related graffiti. Perhaps it was the idea of an overly imaginative art student. At least there were no inappropriate dirty messages scribbled anywhere, Hotohori was thankful for that.   
  
The snack booths were the same save for the new popcorn machine and cotton candy maker. The bathrooms...well, Hotohori couldn't comment on behalf of the women's restroom but the men's...bleck. It looked as if it hadn't been cleaned since he was a student there. The formerly sparkly clean linoleum floors were now unkempt, littered with dirt, soiled toiletries, and dead roaches. Out on one side of the field, the old manual scoreboard had been replaced by a newer automatic electric one that could be changed at the touch of a button by the people high up in the press box that sat above all the bleachers facing the goings on down below.  
  
Just the other night at a hometown football game  
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame  
And as I introduced them the past came back to me  
And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be  
  
She was the one that I had wanted for all times  
And each night I'd spend praying that God would make her mine  
And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then  
I'd never ask for anything again  
  
After scouring through the bleachers to try and find a seat, Hotohori finally found an unclaimed area and motioned for Houki to head up in front of him.   
  
Houki giggled, "After all these years you're still a gentleman."  
  
He grinned and pinched her on her behind playfully, "You bet sweetie. I'll be behind you to catch you if you fall, always."  
  
Houki whirled around and lightheartedly slapped him across his chest with one of her hands, "Not in public darling!"  
  
Hotohori gave his wife a staged sad puppy stare, "Awww, why not?"  
  
Houki smirked, "Shouldn't we continue to uphold our images as stuffy boring everyday parents like Max thinks we should act?"  
  
Then the two looked at each other and cracked up, simultaneously declaring, "Nah!"   
  
And then they did something they haven't done in years...they raced up the bleachers to their newfound seats, both out of breath when they reached it and happily oblivious to the stares they received from students and other adults for their actions. The game soon began after they claimed their seats. Out of habit, Hotohori wrapped his arm around Houki's waist and she relaxed into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Hotohori spotted a vaguely familiar couple who stood together, arms linked, down at the fence bordering the field talking to one of the cheerleaders who was perhaps their daughter. He recognized the cheerleader as a girl that his son had been gushing over all year. Geez, what was her name? Lainie? No...Laura? Uh-uh. Lindsey? Yeah, that's it! Lindsey - a Junior who was a year behind Max. Hotohori felt that he should know who the couple was but it wouldn't quite come to him. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the game. This was an important day for his son after all so the least he could do was pay attention to what was happening on the field.  
  
During the second quarter, Hotohori heard his wife's stomach growl and chuckled softly, "Want me to go get you something to eat?"  
  
Slightly embarrassed by her stomach's loud protests, she nodded, "If you don't mind."  
  
Hotohori lifted one of her soft hands to his lips and kissed it softly, "Anything for my beloved. So what is it that my beloved requests of me?"  
  
"A hotdog with the works and a Diet Cola." Houki requested, "And...perhaps some caramel candies?"  
  
Hotohori nodded and smiled, "I'll be back in a jiff."   
  
He whistled a tune quietly as he made his way to the concession stand, hands now in his pockets. When he reached his destination, a bored looking freckled faced teenager stood ready to take his order.  
  
In a squeaky voice that broke ever so often, the teenager looked at Hotohori and asked, "What can I get you sir?"  
  
"Let's see..." Hotohori began, eyeing the menu hanging up on the back wall, "I'd like a hot dog, a bag of the homemade caramel candies, nachos and cheese, one medium-sized Diet Cola, and one medium-sized regular Cola."  
  
"Is that all sir?" The boy then asked, after punching a bunch of buttons on the cash register.  
When Hotohori nodded and paid, the boy walked away from the window to retrieve Hotohori's order. Hotohori's mind wandered as he waited for his food. A tapping on his shoulder soon interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"Excuse me? Hotohori?" the mystery person asked, almost incredulously, "Is that you?"  
  
Curiously, Hotohori turned around to greet whomever it was addressing him only to be face to face with the woman he had seen earlier down at the field talking to the cheerleader. It was then that he fully recognized who she was.  
  
"Mi...aka?"  
  
The woman now known as Miaka smiled, "Yes, I was afraid you wouldn't recognize me. It sure has been a while, how have you been?"  
  
His mind raced, not quite knowing what to say. Miaka...back in high school she was the one girl he had prayed to God that if He would let him have her, he'd never ask for anything else again. Of course, his prayers were never answered. Miaka went on to date and later marry Hotohori's high school rival, Tamahome. She was on the cheerleading squad and was the most beautiful girl Hotohori had ever laid eyes on. It took him by surprise that she would even bother to speak to him now because back then, she always gave him the cold shoulder.   
  
She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams  
And I could tell that time had changed me in her eyes too it seemed  
We tried to talk about the old days; there wasn't much we could recall  
I guess the Lord knows what he's doing after all  
  
She had definitely changed appearance-wise. Her eyes no longer held that confident sparkle that he remembered her for.  
  
'Enough acting like a bumbling idiot,' Hotohori scolded himself, 'Be polite and answer her.' "I've been quite fine these days. Is life treating you well?"  
  
"Oh so-so." She replied. "Life been...well, life. Tough as nails."  
  
Hotohori nodded, "Yeah, I know how that goes. So, what have you ended up doing with your days since high school?"  
  
"Well I was going to attend college but I became pregnant with my daughter and haven't found much time since then to go." Miaka reflected, "So I've just been taking any odd jobs I can. Tamahome keeps most of the money rolling in. He's now the head executive of his own company now, you know. That child is a ball of energy. She's grown so fast it's amazing."  
  
No he didn't know that and he kind of wished he didn't. It made his job seem infinitesimal compared to Tamahome's. "Now who is your daughter? Isn't she a cheerleader?"  
  
"Yes, Lindsey is the captain of the squad as a matter of fact." Miaka said proudly, "She's taking after me."  
  
Hotohori looked wistful and thought of his sons obsession over Miaka's daughter, If the girl is anything like her mother...well, lets just say history may repeat itself and Hotohori didn't want that for Max. Hotohori wondered why Miaka would even bother talking to him now after acting as if he were invisible back then.   
  
"Is that so?" Hotohori asked, "She looks just like you, that much I do know."  
  
"Yeah," Miaka gushed, "I'm so proud of her."  
  
He almost expected it when she suddenly had a change of subject and said she had to go, never being courteous by asking him in turn what he was doing with his life or asking if he had a family too. She only loved talking about herself it seemed.  
  
And as she walked away I looked at my wife  
And then and there I thanked the good Lord for the gifts in my life  
  
Houki was so much more than Miaka could ever be to Hotohori. Houki was caring, gentle, loving, a wonderful confidant, generous, gorgeous, fun, and many many more things. Hotohori was glad that he had found Houki. Without her or his son Max his life would have been an empty shell. That of a soulless zombie wandering around in the darkness.  
  
Houki had shed new light to him when they had first met those many years ago. She taught him to not only smell the flowers but to pick them. To be awed by everything and treat life like it was a gift. She also taught him that there was love after heartbreak.  
  
Hotohori had spent many adolescent nights praying to God to make Miaka his. And he knew now that God had had other plans for him and Hotohori was extremely thankful.  
  
Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers  
Remember when you're talking to the man upstairs  
And just because he may not answer doesn't mean he don't care  
  
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered  
Some of God's greatest gifts are too often unanswered  
Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers...  
  
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Feedback? Please? It would be much appreciated.  
  
Never doubt the power of prayer. If your prayers are sometimes not answered, know that God has other wonderful plans for you that you have yet to discover. Like the song says, He sometimes doesn't answer but that doesn't mean he doesn't care. I know that there are many other Americans like myself out there who feel utterly lost and confused over the sudden tragedies in New York City and Washington D.C. Know that this was NOT God's doing. This, my friends, was the work of the devil. Many unselfish American men and women are out there devoting all their time and efforts by giving blood, money, and food donations to the relief effort. God bless these people and God bless those at ground zero who have the harrowing duty of cleaning the wreckage. These people are my heroes.  



End file.
